So I started a new job last week, and was out at their corporate HQ most of last week. My first day in the local office I'll be in I get a good one in the morning. Two people switched offices (I don't know why) and after that the one of them can't access anything on their PC. So I check and the PC has no network connectivity, it registers as plugged in to the wall, but it's getting a 169 address. OK time to go see the switches. Go down to server room and, well there's only one switch in the rack, and not enough cables going out to go all over. Hmm... I start a Lync conversation with one of my counterparts elsewhere in the US and ask if he knows where they are he then proceeds to say "You're going to love this..." and then informs me that the switches and patch panels are in the ceiling, one in the room next to the Server room and one one second floor in the ceiling above in the conference room.

Yea.....so let's just say after trying to look at the mess (there are more issues than just them being in the ceiling, like no labeling and no idea where anything goes or comes from) and after finding a work around for the user with the issue, I spoke with my boss and said we need to discuss the location of the switches and patch panels and that we will need to do something about it.

Currently working in a place where they have similar issues - and they have a lot of switches, most of which have not more than about a quarter of the ports used. (90% are 10/100 switches, a couple of gigabit). They've also started adding a load (about 30-40) of little 4 port hubs all over the place to get around a shortage of network points.

The cabling is a rats nest of different products, put in at different times by different contractors. Cat5e, Cat5, Cat3, 2 pair telephone cable, co-axial, USB extension leads, power cables (both high and low voltage) and some other stuff that is being used for connectors that are RS232 serial connections with their own pin outs. Some of it tied together, shoved through conduits, through holes in walls, across the ceiling tiles and electric lights, resting on the roof, looped to get rid of excess cable, in some cases bent back on itself and then cable tied together.

No plans, no documentation, none of it ever tested. They have an enormous number of issues, but still fail to understand that you get what you pay for; and there seems to be no interest in actually addressing the problem.

1st Post

I would not be surprised if the switches were put in the ceiling to be in a more centralized location. I am wondering though how did they get power to them, an extension lead plugged into another extension lead.

I'm having flash backs to when I had to read a BICSI manuals when I first started.

This doesn't always help you find everything, but when I'm going through the interview process and the interviewer asks, "Do you have any questions?", I always say can I have a tour of the data center or server room, etc.

You won't see everything but you can find out a lot by seeing how things are installed, cable management, etc. etc.

If it's a mess and sloppy, you'll know what your first project will be if you accept the position!!

1st Post

The only time I've ever put switches in an odd location, was above one of the factory units at a factory complex I used to work in with my first job in IT.

They spent 7 million designing the building and forgot to factor in the network cabling until the month before construction was complete.

They'd spent so much money on the building we had to cut some serious corners with the lan to make it work, one such thing was placing two switches above a factory unit to allow the 300m run to the production offices on the other side of the factory instead of spending a lot of money on fiber, or a cat5 repeater.

When I got a new job I think the new guy just deleted my documentation folders and decided to start again, as I'd heard it took them two weeks and a contractor to find out why the lan to the production offices had just stopped working. They didnt know to go up and just swap the switches around to order a replacement.

This person is a verified professional.

Hope he did not say ... "This is how it has always been done and what is wrong with it???"

No he's sharp, it was the company (aquired by the company I am actually working for about a year and a half ago) and my predacessor or perhaps his predacessors that put the mess together.

Me. wrote:

I would not be surprised if the switches were put in the ceiling to be in a more centralized location. I am wondering though how did they get power to them, an extension lead plugged into another extension lead.

I'm having flash backs to when I had to read a BICSI manuals when I first started.

I think that is part of it, and I can understand an odd switch or other device in the cieling to extend the distance of a run(s), but this is an office, they could have easily placed the switches in mall mounted cabinets, not in the ceiling. As a matter of fact that's what I am planning to do if I get approval.

Guy5702 wrote:

This doesn't always help you find everything, but when I'm going through the interview process and the interviewer asks, "Do you have any questions?", I always say can I have a tour of the data center or server room, etc.

You won't see everything but you can find out a lot by seeing how things are installed, cable management, etc. etc.

If it's a mess and sloppy, you'll know what your first project will be if you accept the position!!

Oh I didn't know about this gem, but I was well aware I was walking into a project.

I just replaced all of our switches at my company. We had some switches literally plastered into the wall. The switches were installed in the wall, wires and power connected, then the wall was closed up with no means to access the switches other than to cut blindly into the wall. WTF!!!

The other issue we had were all of the old switches i puled out, 58 in total, were all 4 or 8 port switches that were daisy chained and they were not the good kind! None of the cables were marked either. Needless to say 14 Cisco c2960-s-48port switches replaced all of the old switches with dual fiber trunk back to the Fiber core (C3750) switches. We also pulled about 15,000 ft of CAT5E and 1000 feet of fiber.